Chapter 2. Overview of Spoken Language Technology

To make effective design decisions, you need to understand the strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities of the underlying technology. This chapter introduces speech technology at the level of understanding required by VUI designers and discusses how this understanding should come into play when you make design decisions.

Even though speech recognition technology is only now becoming commonplace, it has been with us for almost a century. The first success story was actually a children's toy, produced around 1911, called Radio Rex (pictured on the book cover). This toy was a small celluloid dog sitting in a tin-roofed doghouse. Inside the doghouse, an electromagnet held a spring-loaded lever. There ...

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